This invention relates to explosives and more particularly to energetic binder systems for plastic bonded explosives.
Conventional cast-curable energetic binders consist typically of an energetic plasticizer like bis(2-fluoro-2,2-dinitroethyl)formal (FEFO) or a mixture of bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)acetal and bis(2,2-dinitropropyl)formal (BDNPA/F) and an inert or energetic difunctional prepolymer. The latter combination is more energetic but also more complex and costly, and generally less stable (thermally and chemically) than the former. Typical examples of the two are (1) BDNPA/F with a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) polymer and (2) FEFO with a polynitroalkylorthocarbonate polymer. Fluorinated polymers have also been proposed as castcurable binders for explosives and propellants but those previously investigated have limited compatibility and miscibility with energetic plasticizers.